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MAP: Getting students back on track

Alliance for Youth's Mediation and Accountability Program targets youths who demonstrate or show potential for trouble and attempts to set them on the right path. Judge Steve Bolstad addresses one of the youths in the program at a hearing Tuesday.(Photo: TRIBUNE PHOTO/KRISTEN CATES)Buy Photo

When you have lost your way, it can be helpful to have a map to get you back on track.

And that is the hope of a new Alliance for Youth program that works to intervene early to prevent troubled teens from dropping out of school and becoming dependent on alcohol and drugs.

The Mediation and Accountability Program, or MAP, targets chronically truant youth, runaways and children charged with minor in possession. Kids are referred by a judge, juvenile probation, a school, their parents or a community agency.

Laura Day, a case manager at Alliance for Youth, said the program, which is 6 months old, works to give troubled children a voice while also giving them standards they are expected to live up to.

“Many of these students feel that nobody is listening, they’re just getting yelled at,” she said.

With the help of a case manager and an outside mediator, the students sit down with the adults in their lives and work out a short-term intervention plan that outlines goals and targets behaviors.

All parties reach an agreement so students, guardians and Alliance for Youth can refer back to the agreement to make sure that everybody remembers the deal.

There have been about 33 students referred to the new program. Some were never enrolled in the program because they were not good fits and some refused to enter the voluntary program.

Right now, there are three engaged in services, Day said.

Day and Janet Meissner, the head of the local Alliance for Youth, acknowledge the program is not for everybody.

“We don’t take those who are deep in the justice system,” Meissner said. “There are other community resources for those who are deeper into the system.”

Day said the goal is to keep students who are wavering out of “the pathway to prison.”

Most of the students who have been enrolled in the program have been high-school students, but Day would like to see the majority of the students be middle and elementary students.

“You have a much better chance at reaching the students when they are younger,” she said.

Aftercare support reinforces behavior improvements.

Beyond working to keep the students accountable, the program works to give parents the tools they need to communicate with their kids, resolve conflicts in a healthy way and outline expectations. Many of the students turned to drugs and alcohol because of conflicts at home. By working to mediate the underlying problems, the case manager helps prevent future crimes.

The case manager also works to mediate relationships outside of the family. For example, one family thought the school was pushing their child out. The school thought they were bending over backwards and the family was not cooperating.

The program supports accomplishment of the family’s self-determined goals (improvements in attitudes, values and/or behaviors) through linking them to appropriate services and ensuring successful service completion.

The Alliance for Youth program therefore addresses two of United Way’s community goals. Research indicates that teens charged with a second MIP are more likely to become chemically dependent. And students who are chemically dependent are less likely to graduate high school.

Since forming in 1990, Alliance for Youth has worked to prevent substance abuse and intervene and treat children and adults who abuse alcohol and use drugs.

United Way volunteers awarded the Mediation and Accountability Program with an $11,000 grant, and will track the participants’ school attendance, graduation rates and whether they offend again.

Money raised in United Way’s annual campaign addresses human service needs in Cascade County. Any local nonprofit can apply for grants. United Way volunteers decide funding considering the community’s needs and the programs’ effectiveness. This year, 32 local programs receive United Way grants.

Many people give through an employee campaign, which runs through the end of the year. People also may give by sending contributions directly to United Way at PO Box 1343, Great Falls, MT 59403 or donating online at www.uwccmt.org.